TARGETING THE SUBURBAN URBANITES - MARKETING CENTRAL-CITY HOUSING

This article explores target marketing as a means to identify which mi ddle-income suburbanites may relocate to central cities. The most targ etable populations reside near central cities and lead urban lifestyle s. We term such people ''suburban urbanites.'' Geodemography, a method combining population and location, is used to classify suburban urban ites using data from Claritas Inc., a target marketer. Claritas divide s the nation's neighborhoods into lifestyle clusters by linking popula tion density to demographic and consumptive patterns. A case study of metropolitan Washington, DC, illustrates how target marketing works. W e find that more than half the region's middle-class, Claritas-defined urbanites live outside the District of Columbia. Thus, a large market of potential city dwellers lives in Washington's suburbs. Target mark eting enhances the statistical approaches traditionally used in policy making and may help cities understand and develop their comparative a dvantages.